US Route Shield

Final Rule: Traceability for Livestock Moved Interstate

January 11, 2013

Summary of Revisions to the Final Rule from Proposed Rule

Effective Date: March 11, 2013

The Supplementary Information section of the final rule explains the comments received on the 

proposed traceability regulation as well as USDA’s response to the comments. The following 

summarizes revisions made to the proposed rule on topics and issues that received significant 

comment. 

Applicable to More Than One Species

The final rule:

• Clarifies that all interstate movements of livestock to a custom slaughter facility are 

exempt from the regulation’s official identification and movement document 

requirements.

• Revises the recordkeeping limit for movement documentation for poultry and swine from 

5 years to 2 years while maintaining a 5-year requirement for sheep, cervids, and equine.

• While maintaining the change to the Animal Identification Number (AIN) that would 

transition from multiple prefixes (840, USA, and manufacturer codes) to having only the 

840 prefixed recognized as official, the final rule expands the transition period from 12 

months to 24 months. USDA acknowledged the suggestion to accept manufacturer-coded 

tags when animals with such tags are part of an Agriculture Marketing Services (AMS) 

Process Verified or Quality System Assessment program and when the numbers are 

reported to the State animal health official. USDA indicated that the rule allows such 

flexibility, but takes the position that such options are best determined locally by 

producers and State and Tribal animal health officials. APHIS and AMS will collaborate 

to standardize identification methods to achieve greater uniformity and compatibility.

• Revises the requirement of the U.S. Shield being on all official eartags to 

allow an Official Eartag Shield where the eartag shield is defined as the 

graphic of the U.S. Route Shield with the letters “US” inside the shield,

with the option for States to use their postal abbreviation instead of “US”.

• Adjusts the definition and requirements of the Interstate Certificate of Veterinary 

Inspection (ICVI) to:

o Account for instances where the examination of the animals and preparation of the 

ICVI may not occur where the animals are initially loaded for an interstate shipment. 

For example, animals could be transported to a veterinary clinic where the accredited 

veterinarian would complete the inspection and prepare the ICVI. 

o Provides an option for State-approved addenda to be attached to each copy of the 

ICVI, including a computer-generated report with the official identification numbers 

when agreed to by the receiving State or Tribe.

• Revised the format of Group/Lot Identification Numbers (GIN) to account for scenarios

where the group is assembled over a period of more than 1 day. Previous explanations of 

the format indicated that date component of the GIN is the date the group was assembled. 
Summary of Revisions to the Final Rule on Traceability for Livestock Moved Interstate

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The date component now reflects the date the group was assembled or the initial date if 

assembling takes more than 1 day.

• Clarifies that Animal Identification Number (AIN) eartags with the 840 prefix may have 

a duplicate (replacement) tag issued with the same number of the original AIN tag if an 

animal loses the tag after it was applied.

Captive Cervids

• No revisions from the proposed rule (the final rule maintains the reference to Title 9, 

Code of Federal Regulations (9 CFR) part 77).

Cattle and Bison

The final rule:

• Revises the official identification methods to include brands, tattoos, and breed registries

when accepted by the shipping and receiving State and Tribe.

• Revises the ICVI requirement to allow other movement documentation for all ages of 

cattle when accepted by the shipping and receiving State or Tribe. (The proposed rule 

restricted this option to sexually intact animals under 18 months of age.)

• Removed Phase 2 which pertained to official identification requirements for beef cattle 

under18 months of age (feeder/stocker cattle) which will be established through a 

separate rule making at a later date. 

• The option to use backtags on animals moved directly to slaughter instead of official

identification is now a permanent exemption to official identification. (The proposed rule 

eliminated the option to use backtags in Phase 2.)

• Incorporates the option for tagging sites to maintain the animal’s identity by means other 

than an official eartag on arrival at the tagging site so such animals can be commingled 

with other animals before the official identification eartag is applied. 

• Revises the restriction regarding multiple identification methods to multiple official 

eartags .The final rule provides for a combination of official identification methods (for 

example, official eartags and brands when accepted as official by the shipping and 

receiving States).

Horses and Other Equines

The final rule:

• Clarifies that animal health officials of the receiving State need only examine and 

approve identification by description of an equine when there is a question about the 

accuracy of the equine’s identify. Commenters had interpreted the proposed rule to 

require that all horses identified by a description would require review by the receiving 

State’s animal health official. The final rule allows veterinarians, producers, or others to 

request the review of an animal health official where the horse’s identity is in question.

• Revises the official identification requirements to include:

o Biometric measurements.
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o Non-ISO electronic identification injected into the equine on or before March 11, 

2014.

• Exempts equines from specific ICVI/movement document requirements when:

o They are used as the mode of transportation (horseback, horse and buggy) for travel 

to another location and directly back to the original location.

o They are moved from the farm or stable for veterinary medical examination or 

treatment and returned to the same location without change in ownership. 

o They are moved directly from a location in one State through another State to a 

second location in the original State.

Note: The final rule maintained the exemption that equines may be moved between 

shipping and receiving States or Tribes with documentation other than an ICVI, e.g., an 

equine infectious anemia test chart, as agreed to by the shipping and receiving States or 

Tribes involved in the movement.

Poultry 

• As noted earlier, the final rule clarified, through the general exemption for all livestock

moved to a custom slaughter facility, that such poultry movements are exempt from the 

traceability regulation’s requirements. 

• The final rule also exempts chicks moved from hatcheries from the official identification 

and movement requirements and adds that the persons responsible for receiving the 

chicks are to maintain a record of the chicks’ suppliers.

• The final rule also expanded the exemption for ICVIs to include movements to rendering 

establishments as well as to slaughter facilities.

Sheep and Goats

• No revisions (the final rule maintains the reference to regulations in 9 CFR part 79).

Swine

• No revisions (the final rule maintains the reference to regulations in 9 CFR 71.19).

• For movement documentation, the final rule adds a reference to 9 CFR part 85 when 

applicable. 

Note: As explained earlier in this summary, the date component of the GIN was revised 

to reflect the date the group was assembled or the initial date of assembling the group if 

assembly took longer than 1 day.